Seller Account Hacked - Amazon ignoring us
Hi, I posted this same post 9 months ago when our seller account was hacked (most likely internally within amazon it was suggested by many sellers last time who had heard of the same thing happening).
Someone anyhow logged in and changed our bank account details to theirs, meaning that every time we did a disbursement from amazon to what we thought was our bank account we paid the new fraudulent bank account. £98,000 was paid to this account before we caught on what was happening.
We reported this in everyway possible to us to amazon, and we reported it to the police giving amazon the crime reference number. We were told that amazon were looking into it. Days passed, weeks passed and nothing came back from them, we tried contacting many times again in the only was possible - through the help section, we weren’t given any direct contact email or phone number and were told we cannot talk to that specialist department and they will contact us.
9 months have now passed and we haven’t been given any more info regarding getting our money back, or even an acknowledgement of what has happened.
It’s a complete disgrace and has had huge impacts on our cash flow as you’d imagine.
A couple of months back my friend told me that his friend worked at amazon and was high up in eu management, so we contacted her, give all the info to her and she said she’d try her best for me to help and get it to the right people. 3 months on she has had no more success than me.
Can anyone on here help with what we can do?
Many thanks
31 replies
Seller_DROodOAYHftnc
I am astonished that you have waited so long without going down the legal route, considering the amount of money involved.
Seller_mk2sE3KS9NQPk
Oh my, is this ok if i Blog about this experience, maybe get much more needed attention to the situation.
Seller_lljyzgTxr5fgI
No disrespect here but this is madness; £98,000 and you’ve not been to see a solicitor? Forget where your friends work, forget messages to Amazon. Get to a solicitor who will then contact the police and follow up where you started. If your account was hacked internally, ie within Amazon, then a solicitor and legal action is the route to take. In truth, this could have probably all been dealt with moons ago. If you can afford to lose £98,000 for 9 months, surely then you can afford the services of a solicitor. If I had lost £98,000, I’d sell a kidney to pay for a solicitor if I had to.
First thing Monday, make an appointment with a good solicitor; find one that deals in corporate matters. The first half an hour is free so you have nothing to lose. Good luck.
Seller_M6XflRPgoEJNG
Thanks everyone. I have started the legal process a few weeks before Christmas. So hopefully it will make some headway soon.
Seller_1RCUQXrPOdhZg
The easiest way to stop your account being hacked is to use the 2FA (Two Factor Authentication) feature. Every time you log in to your account Amazon send a 6 digit code to your mobile which you need to input during login so a thief can not get in to your account without your mobile phone.
Seller_D52kINh75QL8v
It will be difficult to prove that the hack was internal to Amazon.
I nearly lost £14,000 to a hack, fortunately I checked the bank details on the day of the transfer and the Bank had been changed to a Spanish bank without me knowing about it. HOWEVER, I realized after the event that I had fallen for a Phishing email send from “Seller Performance” - “we need to verify your account - enter this 5 digit number”. I looked so real and I fell for it “hook line and sinker” and I this of myself as savvy. Since then I have always used OTP on my Amazon accounts.
I am not sure the legal route will achieve much other than make a lawyer richer. You need to establish negligence. The true negligence lies with the Bank who allowed a bank account to be set up by a fraudster. A bank you have no relationship to and could be anywhere in the world. International law will be very expensive to get involved with.
If you have managed to survive after taking a hit of £98,000 that is truly impressive. I’d look forward, learn from your mistakes (always regularly check your bank details) and leave it with Amazon. I doubt the police can do anything for you.
At worst you should only lose 2 weeks money. If you have the option to “Disburse now” then you could disburse weekly to minimize exposure.
Seller_UfBEzJhpNfIPB
This did happen to us also for a considerable amount of money, hopefully if youre managing the cash without the 98K just keep on chasing ours took 13months!! then without any acknowledgement or email the money was put back into our seller account!!
sometimes we cannot see what work is actually going on behind the scenes and due to the nature of the event/ hack/ fraud… whatever name we give it i can understand why they dont really discuss with anyone!
its an issue yes and they not the most easy company to contact but the importance of the platform is growing, hence why we are all still here, im sure legal route is not great for the future no matter what anyone says!
Seller_n33KwLeg9XOvi
I find this staggering that £98k was transferred before you noticed the money was not arriving in your bank account
I always check the last 4 digits of the bank account displayed on the payments page in amzn before I hit the final transfer button.
Seller_4jeZD40ha7u4o
Go to all the major press, maybe then will have some luck and add some pressure
Seller_68Z4Z2pEilwLE
1 Principal Place
Worship Street
London
EC2A 2FA
Should be legal address , but double check…
Its normal to be ignored now by Amazon , we are an inconvenience when we need help
